Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-05-10

| American commerce from their piratical
ships. | saw many messages of John
Adams in his bold up and down hand,
rs pOmpOus in pen and ink as their writer
was IN person, and as | read them | recalled
Adams vanity and the remark he made
when friend said: "Mr. Adams, yOu and
Gen. Washington did we'll"
With u Strengthening up of his little fat
form and a throwing back of his semi
bald head, he replied: beg your pardon,
sir; you should not say George Washing
ton and John Adams, but John Adams
and George Washington, for John Adams
made George Washington
| saw also the autograph copy of the
speech OF the son OF John Adams, the great
John Quincy Adams, in which he well
coined KOsSuth to the United States, and
| read message after message penned by
| Madison and Monroe There was not so
much ceremony in the writing of state pa
| pers then. Parchment was not used, and
the rough, uDruled wrapping paper like
material is of all shapes and sizes.
Ia book containing the messages Of
| John Adams | came across an autograph
letter of Martha Washington, sent to
| Adams shortly after her husbands death
and submitted by Adams to Congress. 1t
relates to the proposed removal of Wash
ingtOn's remains from Mount Vernon to
the national Capitol, and as | read the
trembling lines | could almost see the
widow OF the first President seated in her
| little attic room at Mount Vernon, To
which she retired after his death with only
cat, it is said, for company. She kept
her room, you know, for months and re
fused to.bc cOmlOrted, and ii was here she
wrote this letter. 1t is dated the 3lst OF
December, 1899, the year in which Wash
ington died. On its back there is Il
note saying it was sent to Congress
with the message of the President,
Oh the Sth of January, 1900. The paper is
of the size of the largest fashionable note
paper of to-day. Its edges are yellow and
its color has been faded by its eighty-sevCn
years of aye. 1t is torn at the top, and
Mr.. Finch tells me it was once stolen and
afterwards returned as mysteriously as it
was taken away. The writing is plain and
the words are so well spelled that it is fair
to suppose that Tobias Lear WashingtOn's
private secretary, corrected the first draft
of the letter, aud that Martha copied it
before lt was sent. Ii reads:
Mt. VERNON, Dec 81, 1899.
SrR-While | feel with keenest anguish
the late diSpenSatiOn of divine providence,
| cannot he inSensible to the mOurnful
tributes of respect and veneration which
are paid to the memory of my dear deceased
husband rs his best services and most
anxious wishes were always devoted to the
welfare and happiness of his country-tO
know that they were fully appreciated and
gratefully remembered, affords no incOn-
siderable consolation.
Taught by the great example which |
have long had before me, never to oppose
my private wishes to the public will
must consent to the request made by con-
greSS which you have had the goodness to
transmit to me, and in doing this | need
not, cannot, say what a sacrifice Of indi-
vidual feeling l make to a sense of public
duty.
With greatful acknowledgement and I'M
feigned thanksfOr the personal respect and
evidences OF coincidence expressed by con-
gress and yourself, remain, very respect
fully, sir,
Your most obedient and humble servant,
MARTHA WASHINGTON.
~
The journals of all the Congresses are
here, and looked with interest over the
first journal of the House of Represen-
tatives-a biz, thick ledger, fourteen
inches wide and twenty-lOur inches long
| Ii was begun in 1889, and the heavy calf
in which it is bound is worn through ut
the edges, and the red canvas cover which
is over this is frayed and torn with the
rubbing gilmore than three generations of
| fingers. The writing, however, Is aS plain
now rs when it was first penued, and this
clerk of the House Of Representatives Of
ninety-Seyen years ago was not bad
scribe. He took pride in his work, and
the first page Is decorated as though done
| by one of those artist monks of the middle
agcs who made the illuminated bibles Of
antiquity. 1t has the iinenCSS of an
elaborate copper-plate engraving, and this
decoration is sept up during the session of
the First Congress. As the years 90 on
the careful writing dies out, and after a
few Congresses all that is aimed at Is
| legibility. The uewneSs has worn of, and
the clerk evidently wants to finish his
work as soon rs possible.
~
In n room at the right of one in which
| looked at the above papers, there is an
other packed with more of these old pa
pers and valuable autographs. Here is the
full testimony taken before the committee
on the conduct of the war, and down below
was shown thousands of files of war
claims which have been presented to Con-
gress. The testimony before the commit
tees in important cases is kept here, and
when it is remembered that one class of
these war claims brought in more than D.
OO0 claimants, and the amount asked for
was more than $G0, 600, 900 somewhat Of
the extent of this class of the records may
| be seen.
| Many of these documents are cOntden-
tial, and there is a tn ri room, which looks
! like the cell of prison, which is devoted
| to these. The collection includes conf
Dental messages to the congresses of the
past, and, like much of the other matter,
| 1t is full of unwritten history. None of
these papers are ever seen by strangers.
They are hidden away in rooms off OF the
corridors Of the Capitol, and are watched
rs carefully rs the surplus of the treasury.
II is well that it is so, for IN autograph
theft could easily ruin many valuable pa
perS, and in such mass the theft might
not he detected for years after its commits
sion FRANK c.. CARPENTER.